Japanese trio shares the lead at the TOTO Japan Classic

OMITAMA, Japan — The home crowd got exactly the start it wanted at the TOTO Japan Classic on Thursday, as three Japanese players shared the first-round lead after shooting 6-under 66s at the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course.

Miyu Yamashita, Aki Iwai and Sayaka Takahashi sit one stroke clear of the field after the opening round of the LPGA Tour event in Omitama, Ibaraki, with the trio setting the pace on a day when play began an hour behind schedule because of rain.

Yamashita arrived in Japan as the form player of the three. The world No. 4 won the Maybank Championship in Malaysia over the weekend, her fifth career LPGA Tour victory, and a win this week would give her a fourth title of 2026 and back-to-back victories. Her opening round was bogey-free, and she has good memories of this event, having finished third on her own at 14 under last year and tied for 12th at 10 under in 2024.

Yamashita's rise has been one of the stories of the women's game this year. The 2025 Women's British Open winner successfully defended her Maybank Championship title in Malaysia last weekend, and her fifth career LPGA Tour victory confirmed her place at world No. 4. A fourth win of 2026 in front of a home crowd in Japan would be the perfect way to close the Asian swing, and her bogey-free opening round suggested she has carried her Malaysian form straight into this week.

Iwai matched her with a more eventful 66 built on eight birdies and two bogeys. She also arrived in form, and her aggressive round kept her alongside Yamashita at the top of the leaderboard from the first day.

Takahashi completed the Japanese sweep of the top of the leaderboard with her own bogey-free 66, giving the home fans three local players to follow in the leading group when the second round begins on Friday.

The three leaders hold a one-stroke advantage over Minami Hiruta, Pajaree Anannarukarn and Fuka Suga, who each shot 67 on the 6,598-yard layout. Nine players, including defending champion Nasa Hataoka, sit two strokes off the lead after rounds of 68, so the leaderboard is tightly packed behind the leading trio.

Hwang Yu-min of South Korea was among those at 68, carding a bogey-free round with four birdies to share seventh place. Hataoka, who defends the title she won at this event last year, will need to make up ground over the remaining three rounds, but she remains well within reach after an opening 68.

The tournament carries a purse of 2.1 million dollars and is the last of four events in the LPGA Tour's late-season Asian swing. Jeeno Thitikul, the Thai star, entered the week as the favourite to win for a fifth time this year, but it was the Japanese contingent that dominated the first day on home soil.

Conditions were far from straightforward. Rain delayed the start by an hour, and the players had to adjust to a softened course at the Taiheiyo Club Minori Course, a par-72 layout in Omitama. The leaders handled it best, with Yamashita and Takahashi avoiding a single dropped shot all day and Iwai more than covering her two bogeys with eight birdies.

Australia's Hannah Green was the leading Australian after the first round, shooting a 2-under 70 to sit tied for 26th. Robyn Choi finished the day at 1 under, while Minjee Lee, one of the biggest names in the field, opened with a 5-over round and has work to do to climb back into contention.

The event is the final leg of a four-tournament swing through Asia, and the field knows that this is the last chance to make a mark before the tour returns to the United States for the season-ending events. That context adds weight to every round in Omitama, and the leading trio will be aware that the chasing pack, led by the group at 67 and the nine players at 68, is close enough to strike if any of them falter on Friday.

The leading trio will play together in the second round on Friday, teeing off at 10:12 a.m. from the first tee. With three rounds still to play and a chasing pack only one or two strokes behind, the TOTO Japan Classic is finely poised, but Thursday belonged to Japan: three home players, three 66s, and a shared lead to defend.

The photographs accompanying this report are file images of the players from earlier LPGA Tour events, not pictures taken during Thursday's opening round in Omitama.